The Best Films of All Time, According to Someone Who Knows

Re: The Best Films of All Time, According to Someone Who Kno


Bastid. I'm going for some popcorn then.

# 347



VCR HEAD CLEANER

An original and intrigueing example of experimental film making, this gem will keep your ass firmly planted on the seat and your eyes glued to the screen. A truly unique work of art, ?'VCR Head Cleaner' is at once a bunch of white static on a screen and an analogy for the human condition.

There's no story, and no real characters, unless you count the omnipresent static that reminds us of our mortality and the gray impenetrable fog of eternity. Many film scholars have tried to interpret the images - and each has come to a different conclusion.

The very name of the film has been the source of much debate. Some people think that the ?'VCR' is some sort of acronym, but for what? I think ?'Head Cleaner' speaks for itself as both a challenge to our preconceived notions that are smashed into from our first days on this earth and a gentle, soothing message of hope.

I remember I watched the movie with my mother and when it was over she looked at me and said "My God, Don, that is the color of life." We cried for hours afterward. This is indeed a stunning work of art from start to finish.

I can't believe you love that one. I thought "The Ice Storm" had a lot of snow in it but this is like the Chinese snow torture.

The VCR acronym, FYI, stands for

Virgin Conundrum Revenge

#346

I debated with myself endlessly as to whether this should come above VCR Head Cleaner, but in the end, Schindlers List won:



A tragic and touching film about the Holocaust. Hailed as one of the great films of the 20th centry, Spielberg's emotional epic reaches hights never before seen in American Cinema. Liam Nesson gives a wonderful performance is the titular Schindler List, and Ben Kingsly is hardly recognisable as a starving, Chess playing, Indian. Go figure.

heh

Didn't "VCR Head Cleaner" clean up at the Oscars?

I know it won for technical effects.

(It was ahead of its time, swishing over the heads).

ILZ, that's it? One non-movie and one film about compassion?
Not much of a list, is it?
Almost all of the great films are made elsewhwere, Hollywood is not on the real lists.
PS, Monica Vitti looks smashing.

Is The Blair Witch Project on your list? I hope so. In my opinion, it's almost as good as VCR Head Cleaner. Doesn't quite reach the same high level of ambiguity, I admit, but it tries so hard that it should, at least, get honorable mention.

I don't see Van Wilder or Malibus Most Wanted anywhere here.....what's up with that?

Or Gigli, for that matter.

Gigli was a classic. Much better than Jersey Girl.

I thought this was a humorous thread with the head cleaner entry. We already have a Featured Topic best film thread:

http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=14867

I was intending on unfeaturing it and waiting for someone to come up with a top ten or some other list but they are still working on the site and I cannot feature or unfeature topics.

I've offered my favorite films so often, I'm no inclined to be redundant.

It isn't true, BTW, that all great movies were made elsewhere. Sight and Sound's top ten lists include such Hollywood classics as "Citizen Kane," "The Godfather," "Vertigo," and "Singin' in the Rain."
Nearly all films either receive their financing or distribution or both from a Hollywood studio. Sony Classic Pictures is based here in Hollywood and is the major distributor of foreign and independent films.

Lightwizard, with all due respect, most great films were made in Sweden, Japan, India, France, Great Britain, Italy, Germany, Russia etc.
Certainly they were not financed by Hollywood; highly unlikely.
.
If you like depressing films: "Quai des Brumes", a great classic.

I suppose the concept of "great films", like anything else with the word "great" in it, is a matter of personal taste reflecting one's persona; aesthetic judgement. Certainly Hollywood has dominated the market in theatrical film releases since the inception of celluloid. Whether "more" equals "better" is always debateable, of course, but I would suggest that denigrating the Hollywood product simply because it comes from Hollywood, rather than Stockholm or Moscow, say, smacks of a certain kind of elitism.

merry andrew, of course there is elitism involved. When one searches for greatness one looks for quality and depth.
No matter how much money a film makes, it is still judged by it's greatness. Just because a rockstar sells more disks than J.S. Bach does not make him better.
BTW, East India produces at least twice as many films as Hollywood. (1200 in the year 2000). That does not mean anything as far as quality is concerned.
All of the lists of: "Ten greatest films" that I have seen were dominated by other than Hollywood movies. Even "Citizen Kane " was a personal tour de force of Orson Welles.

The Hollywood studio system of the 30's and 40's (the Golden Age?) is also represented on the top ten list by "Singin' in the Rain." If you like depressing movies, you'd likely buy into the predominance of angst offered by the independents and foreign film makers. Does just appealing to the intellectual comprehension of the movie buff always make a great movie? Of course not. Some are pretentious, self-indulged dirges which are about as enlightening as watching paint dry. Nevertheless, "Kane" was a Hollywood movie, as well as "The Godfather." Today, we wouldn't be seeing those foreign films on CD if it weren't for American companies putting up the financing to release them. Janus is one of the major foreign entities and it's heavily financed from American's Hollywood coffers. There are many great foreign films including from Canada but without Hollywood distributing companies, their films would gather dust on the shelves.

As a matter of fact, Bach likely sells more CD's than any rock band considering cumulative sales figures for one composer.

Incidentally, I just saw the French film "Man on a Train" and found it a fascinating character study with an ending that sent my mind reeling.